Trash talking happens on the court in an NBA game. If you have sat courtside (first, invite me to join you), you hear the good-natured and soemtimes not-so-good-natured ribbing players give each other. The NBA is a fraternity of former teammates.
This though is like the kettle calling the pot black.
During Wednesday's game between the Mavericks and Rockets, reporters courtside began tweeting out that Vince Carter called Dwight Howard "the biggest crybaby ever."
Vince Carter just now to Dwight Howard: "You're the biggest crybaby I know."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 21, 2013
Considering the two years that Howard has gone through. Carter might have just been saying what everyone else was thinking.
Howard has long been a leader in the league for technical fouls for the numerous times he argues with officials. Sometimes, it is warranted and sometimes it distracted him from getting back on defense. Then there were the complaints that got him out of Orlando. And the complaints and requests he made when he was discussing a return to the Lakers.
It has been a long couple of years for Dwight.
Then again, consider the source.
Carter has earned the derisive nickname "Wince" for the way he sometimes writhes on the ground after little contact and his tendency to shrivel from big moments. It still does not seem his psyche and swagger have recovered from his meltdown in Game Two of the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals.
Then again, maybe it was all for fun as Carter told Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning-News:
Everybody is blowing it out of proportion. First of all, we were just playing around joking. It was a joke because he said it to me first. And we were complaining about his 3 seconds (in the lane). He was saying, stop crying. And I said, you're the biggest crybaby.
So maybe the former teammates were having some good-natured fun in the heat of the game.
Or maybe we should keep reading into this and harken back to the days when Howard and Carter were teammates and did not quite exactly get along. So . . .
